Our say: Pardon us, Annapolis, if we drone on a bit about Forest Drive

On Thursday officials of Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis -- including County Executive Steve Schuh, center, and Mayor Mike Pantelides, right -- revealed a new partnership to improve traffic on Forest Drive. It includes the use of drones for investigating traffic accidents.

On Thursday officials of Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis -- including County Executive Steve Schuh, center, and Mayor Mike Pantelides, right -- revealed a new partnership to improve traffic on Forest Drive. It includes the use of drones for investigating traffic accidents.

Pardon our skepticism about another study of the Forest Drive corridor. There have been studies aplenty of this traffic artery on the Annapolis Neck Peninsula.

Anyone remember the small area plan done under County Executive Janet Owens? Community members spent months coming up with the key to resolving congestion and growth along Forest Drive — a relief road to the south.

Nobody bothered to enlist the property owners whose land the road would plow through, and county planners put the kibosh on the idea before it went too far. Yet you still hear old-timers grousing the lament of all frustrated dreamers: if only.

How about the plan for Bay Ridge Road, the section of the corridor below Hillsmere Drive? Under Mayor Ellen Moyer, well-meaning folks thought it would be neat to apply a boulevard concept to that portion of the road. Wider sidewalks and bike lanes would combine with lower speed limits to change the dynamic, keeping people who live on the lower Annapolis Neck there, rather than having them drive across town.

This died almost at the moment of its conception.

When Mayor Mike Pantelides and County Executive Steve Schuh announced last week that they would cooperate to plan the future of Forest Drive, it was a moment worth cheering. We love it when someone tries to solve a problem, no matter how cynical we may be about the chances for success.

Bringing in drones to expedite the investigation of accidents — the one regular cause of any really bad congestion on Forest Drive — certainly sounds promising.

But with the exception of flying robot crash investigators, we’ve been here before. This latest effort comes at the start of the county General Development Plan update, a process expected to take two years. It will be followed by comprehensive rezoning.

How likely is it that a meaningful plan can be developed outside of that process? How likely is it when you consider that the county has only just finished installing sidewalks — a breakthrough for alternative transport — the entire length of Forest Drive?

Over the years the developers of Crystal Spring over have employed an incredible range of tactics to win approval of their project, but their latest gambit deserves a special prize.

A letter that I, as chairman of the county Sierra Club, and 25 other community leaders sent to then-Mayor Josh Cohen...

(David Prosten)

There are immutable facts about Forest Drive congestion.

First, it’s not that bad. Sure, when there’s an accident, the corridor shuts down until it’s cleared up. It is not, however, the crisis some try to make it.

Second, the Forest Drive corridor is the main traffic route on a peninsula. Unless Schuh and Pantelides can connect Bay Ridge to Route 50 via a pontoon causeway, there's no getting around the basic geography.

Third, and most importantly, there are people at one end of Forest Drive who every day want to go to the other end — in their cars.

We wish nothing but success for this latest application of good intentions to an exaggerated problem. We’re just not going to hold our breath waiting for results.